December 2025
‘Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the
day nor the hour’ Matthew 25.13 (NRSV)
In this familiar parable of the wise and foolish virgins and the wedding banquet,
the wise virgins are prepared and ready to meet the bridegroom and take with
them lamps and a flask of extra oil. The foolish virgins are not prepared and have
forgotten to take with them flasks and extra supplies. Without extra oil, the light
from their lamps will go out, their flames extinguished. The bridegroom is
delayed and the virgins get drowsy and fall asleep. By the time he arrives, their
lamps are already dying. The wise virgins use their extra oil, replenish their
lamps, and are admitted to the wedding banquet. The foolish virgins are
excluded, unprepared as they were.
The daily practice of contemplative prayer encourages us to keep awake and in
a state of readiness to the needs and opportunities of the present moment, as
we experience Christ within. Jesus tells us that we are the Light of the world, so
we need to keep our lamps lit to reflect the light of Christ to those in need.
Our hearts can be likened to the base of a lamp filled with oil, the oil of prayer,
where we experience the divine indwelling, and the core of our being to the
wick through which our prayer rises and fills us with light. As long as the wick is
continually dipped in the oil of prayer, it continues to give out light, and the oil
of God’s presence will rise steadily through our whole being and turn into light
to give out to the world.
This parable reminds us that it is our own responsibility, and our joy, to keep our
wicks immersed in God. When we do, the flame will burn in a world that is
desperate for light and warmth. To wait in wisdom is to wait in a state of
readiness. So let us keep awake this Advent and be light to the world.